you need to cut into the jungle. You should use your—my—sat phone to check your location. Ready to copy?”
“Ready.”
Worley read off the coordinates, and Brodie repeated the numbers to Taylor, who, he hoped, could commit them to memory.
Worley also gave him the coordinates of the airstrip, and again Brodie read them aloud.
Worley continued, “This is a six-seater Otter. One seat is the pilot’s seat, three are for you, Ms. Taylor, and your prisoner. There will be one, maybe two armed security personnel onboard to provide airfield security, and to ensure that the prisoner poses no danger during flight.” He added, “This is standard procedure.”
“Okay… but Maggie and I are all the security we need. The prisoner is hog-tied.”
“I’ll advise our security people of that. It’s not my decision.” He added, “Your call sign is… let’s say Lucky Duck.”
“Better than Dead Duck.”
“The pilot will be Otter One.”
“Copy. Why don’t you take a ride out here? You’d enjoy seeing Mercer trussed up like a pig.”
“The Otter is coming from Aruba.”
“He can make a quick landing at Francisco de Miranda and pick you up. Don’t you want to be part of this?”
There was a silence on the phone; then Worley said, “The Venezuelan government has severely restricted the movements of all U.S. Embassy personnel. I’m always followed, and I wouldn’t want to compromise this extraction by being followed to the airport.”
“Okay. Just as long as you don’t think Mercer has a gun to our heads and this is a trap.”
“I don’t think that. But I’d like to hear Ms. Taylor’s voice.”
“You wanna hear her punch Mercer in the nuts?”
“Just her voice, please.”
Brodie handed the sat phone to Taylor. “He wants to hear your voice.”
Taylor nodded and said into the phone, “It’s Taylor, Colonel.” She listened, then said, “Yes, he’s restrained. And gagged.” She listened, then moved up a few seats and held the phone to Mercer’s ear. “Captain Mercer can hear you, Colonel.”
Brodie wondered what Worley had to say to the man who, if you could believe Mercer, he had planned to drop out of a helicopter. Whatever Worley said, it upset Captain Mercer and he got agitated, trying to shout something into the phone that sounded liked, “Fuh U U fuhen…” They obviously had some issues.
Taylor took the phone away from Mercer’s ear and said to Worley, “Captain Mercer was more articulate when we were his prisoners.”
She handed the phone to Brodie, who said to Worley, “Captain Mercer has been read his rights and placed under arrest. He is our prisoner and we will return him to U.S. jurisdiction.”
Worley stayed silent for a moment, then said, “You understand that the man has gone mad after two years of Taliban captivity.”
“That would be a good legal defense for any alleged crimes committed since he escaped his captivity. But the charge as of now is desertion, and he wasn’t crazy when he deserted.” In fact, he would have been crazy to get on that black helicopter. But Brodie—and Taylor—had already said more than they should to Brendan Worley, who had a reputation for cleaning up the shit, covering his own ass, and possibly silencing witnesses. So, to make sure the Otter arrived, Brodie said, “I’m calling Colonel Dombroski now and filing an oral report.”
“All right… and by the way, Colonel Dombroski led me to believe that you and Ms. Taylor were leaving the country as ordered.”
“We are leaving the country, though not as ordered.”
“How did you and Ms. Taylor get to where you are now?”
“Probably the same way Ted Haggerty got here.” Brodie added, “Sorry about what happened to him.”
Worley did not respond, probably thinking that Brodie and Taylor should have met the same fate. He did say, however, “I’m glad you don’t work for me.”
“That makes three of us. Four, if you count Captain Mercer.”
Worley had no response to that and said, “I’ll get on the Otter.”
Brodie didn’t think he meant that literally and asked, “Where are we being taken?”
“That is not information I possess. But you can assume Gitmo or Panama.”
“As long as it’s not Caracas.”
“You’re hot in Caracas, Mr. Brodie. SEBIN is looking for an American named Clark Bowman.”
Brodie didn’t know if that was true, or if Worley was trying to ruin his perfect day. Brodie asked, “Did you get those visas for Luis and his family?”
“I believe that was done.”
“Let me know for sure when we speak again.”
“I’ll check.” Worley put a friendly tone in his voice and said, “Congratulations on getting your man.”